CUPE Health Care Workers Rally For Change; Protest Health Care Spending Cuts

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CUPE health care workers and community allies protested the government’s health care spending cuts, gathering outside MPP Dave Smith’s office Monday morning.

According to CUPE, Peterborough is projected to lose 115 nurses and PSWs by 2027 to 2028 while the regional hospital could lose 32 staffed beds due to government funding cuts.

The Financial Accountability Office of Ontario’s analysis estimates that hospitals across Ontario will see a bed reduction of 2,450 staffed beds if the government does not increase funding.

@ptbo_canada CUPE health care workers and community allies protested the government’s health care spending cuts, gathering outside MPP Dave Smith’s office Monday morning. Visit ptbocanada .com to learn more. #ptbocanada #CUPE ♬ original sound - PTBOCanada

“Nurses are working at unsafe ratios within the hospital,” said registered practical nurse Rachel Fleming. “Ideally, it would be great to have a 1:4 ratio as it gives you enough time to take care of the patient and provide them with the appropriate attention, but instead because they’re cutting jobs they’re making an increased workload for us. Every time you add a patient on top of a 1:4 ratio it increases the chance of death for all patients by 7 per cent.”

MPP Smith has reportedly not addressed CUPE’s concerns.

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Powerful Pictures Of Frontline Healthcare Workers At PRHC By A Mother Whose Daughter Was Treated There For Cancer

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Ennismore’s Mary Zita Payne has such enormous gratitude for this community and particular the frontline workers at PRHC.

See, her daughter Eliza, at age 3, was diagnosed with cancer. Young Eliza went through two and a half years of treatment for leukaemia, much of it at PRHC. “We were blessed her treatment plan had amazing success rates, and little likelihood of relapse,” Mary tells PTBOCanada. “She came out of on top, heathlier and happier then ever."

“Throughout those days as dark and sometimes lonely as they could feel, there was so much love, so many impactful moments from humans and our community that shined so much beauty in our lives,” Mary adds. “Our community rallied around us in an incredibly fierce way—they had a set up a GoFundMe page (which went beyond our wildest dreams), they sent cards and gifts, they donated blood, they sent beautiful messages.”

But the real heroes were the doctors and nurses who were there for Eliza and her family day in and day out. And for that, Mary is eternally grateful. During Eliza’s treatment there, Mary started really understanding the power of an image, of capturing moments (like the photos above).

“Photographing these nurses and community supporters was a way to thank them for the support—a way to make sense of it all and share with Eliza when she got older. My camera became a means of sharing my gratitude to my loved ones and the universe.”

Fast forward to today: To the crisis. To the pandemic. To our heroes, the healthcare workers at PRHC who are fighting a war against a virus, saving many lives, and in doing so putting themselves right in harm’s way on the battlefield. And back to Mary, who has turned her camera on them once again to give them a voice so to speak—to thank them for their awesome support, and for taking such amazing care of all of us. 

“I have been taking photos of them at the ‘parades’ honouring them, when I visit my grandma’s nursing homes and when I head into town for some essentials,” says Mary, who has been doing so while abiding by the physical distancing guidelines set forth, keeping well back.

“I see our nurses, many of whom we came to call our family and beloved friends, are being thrown into a war against a horrible disease, a disease that puts them at risk as well as their loved ones,” Mary tells PTBOCanada.

“It only seemed fitting to pull my camera out again and find a way to thank them,” Mary says of documenting this on her blog.

“By directing the camera right onto them during this crisis, I wanted to make sure they know how incredibly beautiful and strong they are for doing so. I wanted to help remind them on their bad days that their communities have so much love, respect and appreciation.”

Mary’s hope in documenting the frontline heroes at PHRC?

“That it inspires our community to keep the focus on keeping those in the ‘trenches’ safe, and how much we have to be grateful for. Grateful for a healthcare system and people within in it that will do everything they can to keep us safe and healthy.”

It only seems fitting somehow that we should finish this post here, with a picture of a now healthy and happy Eliza, who just turned 7, waving to the very healthcare workers at PRHC who helped save her life.

Eliza

View more of Mary’s photos of our heroes on her blog. (PRHC is need of the following supplies if you think you can help with their PPE drive.)

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